Now that my wife is working from the house, she’s going to need a color printer for proofing files. Instead of running ot the stupid Kinko’s every five minues, I found a review of the Minolta/Magicolor 2450 online, which apparently has PostScript support, an Ethernet jack, and also supports PictureBridge connectivity, which means we could theoretically just hook our cameras straight to the printer and make prints. Drawbacks: it’s only 8.5×14″, which makes tabloid-sized printing, or letter-size with bleeds impossible. It’s also $700, which is pricey, but the alternative is a $500 11×17″ inkjet and a $300 software RIP to emulate PostScript (blech). I’ll have to keep an eye on this.

Whoa-wait a minute, what’s this? An external, 160GB hard drive with three FireWire ports and four USB ports on the back? (Brand name: MicroNet MiniMate) All in the same form factor and ready to roll, for $138? Here’s a larger sibling, the 250GB version, for $190. I may be looking at a $700 Mini instead of a $2K iMac after all…

Date posted: September 29, 2005 | Filed under geek | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to Mac/Printer Information.

  1. Jason says:

    Bill, what about a firewire harddrive *enclosure*? I really want one of those. Pop your own harddrive in. It’s great for when you’re abandoning an old machine with full size drives, but you’re moving to something like a laptop or a mini where you can’t easily just pop another drive in. I’ve found that if they say that they’re firewire, they usually also support USB 2.0

  2. the idiot says:

    Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Unfortunately, I can’t tell if the old drive I was using is bad, or if the shite G3 I bought is bad, so I’m going to start from scratch.

    Really, I hate having seventeen things plugged into the wall-I’d rather have one cord for the monitor, computer, and any other gear attached, but I’ll have to deal with three instead.